Fox Entertainment Co

Down a quiet street along the Thames River, just outside of London, television history is being made. Here, in Teddington Studios, the Carsey-Werner Co. is taping a British version of Fox's "That '70s Show." Same six small-town teenagers. Different accents. What's so groundbreaking about this event is that it marks the first time an American company has produced both American and British versions of the same show.

News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, boosted its offer for full ownership of Fox Entertainment Group Inc. by 7% to $6 billion. A committee of Fox directors recommended the higher offer, and shareholders that sued to block the purchase agreed to a settlement, New York-based News Corp. said. Murdoch offered 2.04 News Corp. Class A non-voting shares for each Fox Class A share, up from Murdoch's Jan. 10 offer of 1.9 shares.

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday proposed to fine 169 Fox television stations a total of $1.18 million for violating decency standards when they aired an episode of "Married by America." The FCC said it sought to fine the stations $7,000 each for airing in April 2003 an episode of the unscripted matchmaking program that showed sexually explicit and graphic scenes at a time when children were likely to be watching.

November 24, 1999 | PAUL LIEBERMAN and JAMES BATES, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Rupert Murdoch said Tuesday that his Fox Television Network became the victim of its own ambition this fall when it staggered the release of its slate of new programs, most of which then sank in the ratings. "We were too ambitious in trying to develop too many new shows all in one year and in launching them over a longer period," Murdoch told the first annual shareholders meeting of Fox Entertainment Group, controlled by Murdoch's News Corp. "Our strategy did not work this year."

In a restructuring that brings its network entertainment unit and television studio under one executive, Fox Entertainment Group has promoted Sandy Grushow to chairman of the newly formed Fox Television Entertainment Group. Grushow will oversee both Fox Entertainment, which programs the broadcast network, and Twentieth Century Fox Television, the prime-time television studio.

AT&T Corp., soon to be the largest U.S. cable television company, said it will carry digital TV signals from Fox Entertainment Group's 22 stations on its cable systems across the U.S. for the next 10 years. The agreement covers AT&T's 10 million-plus subscribers and Fox's stations, which reach 40% of U.S. homes with TVs. The companies also agreed to work to provide Fox's high-resolution, or HDTV, programming to cable customers. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Fox Sports International, or FSI, said it had signed a deal to merge its Latin American television holdings with those of an Argentine media giant to form what it says will be the world's largest Spanish-language sports television network. FSI, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group, signed an agreement with Argentina's Trisa to combine their television operations in Latin America and the United States to reach 20 million viewers, FSI's president said.

News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, boosted its offer for full ownership of Fox Entertainment Group Inc. by 7% to $6 billion. A committee of Fox directors recommended the higher offer, and shareholders that sued to block the purchase agreed to a settlement, New York-based News Corp. said. Murdoch offered 2.04 News Corp. Class A non-voting shares for each Fox Class A share, up from Murdoch's Jan. 10 offer of 1.9 shares.

Seeking to consolidate its U.S. holdings under a single banner, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. on Monday proposed a stock swap worth $5.9 billion to buy the remaining shares it does not own in Fox Entertainment Group Inc. News Corp., which already owns 82% of Fox, said shareholders would receive 1.9 News Corp. Class A shares for each Fox Class A share -- a value of $32.55 a share based on Monday's closing price. Fox shares closed Monday at $34.28, about 5.

The Twentieth Century Fox studio, a veteran of the big screen and the TV screen, is about to break into an entirely new realm: the really little screen, the kind that comes on a cellphone. In what appeared to be the first arrangement of its kind, Twentieth Century Fox said Wednesday that it would create a unique series of one-minute dramas based on its hit show "24" exclusively for a new high-speed wireless service being offered by Vodafone, the world's biggest cellphone company.

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday proposed to fine 169 Fox television stations a total of $1.18 million for violating decency standards when they aired an episode of "Married by America." The FCC said it sought to fine the stations $7,000 each for airing in April 2003 an episode of the unscripted matchmaking program that showed sexually explicit and graphic scenes at a time when children were likely to be watching.

Echoing the sentiments of rival NBC executives that the traditional rollout of new network schedules in the fall may be an outdated strategy, Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman announced Friday that her network would start unveiling new shows soon after the official season ends in May.

"The Simple Life," Fox's new unscripted series about wealthy girls struggling on a farm, is in green pastures in terms of its initial ratings. The second episode of the show, which features hotel heiress Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, won its 8:30 p.m. slot Wednesday, attracting more than 13.3 million viewers, an increase over its Tuesday premiere audience of just under 13 million. On top of that, the Wednesday installment gave a significant boost to the show that followed it, "The O.C."

The Fox network on Monday announced several programming moves, including shifting its new drama "The O.C." from Thursdays to Wednesdays and delaying the new comedy "The Ortegas" until midseason. Network executives had previously planned for "The O.C." to air Thursdays at 9 p.m. when it returns to the prime-time schedule following the baseball playoffs. That would have pitted the youth-oriented drama against CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and NBC's "Will & Grace."

News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group said it is pulling out of its planned movies-on-demand joint venture, Movies.com, with Walt Disney Co. after deciding the venture was not "appropriate" for the moment. Fox said that "after considering the potential regulatory process and logistical issues and carefully examining technological and marketplace developments, it had determined that the joint venture was not an appropriate initiative at this time."

The loss of "Seinfeld" will have an "enormous impact" on prime time, and competing networks will likely add to NBC's woes by exploring how to steal its top-rated drama "ER," the Fox network's programming chief said Friday. Addressing a group of TV critics in Pasadena, Fox Entertainment Group President Peter Roth avoided specifics regarding "ER"--which will be in play for next season if NBC can't come to a deal with production company Warner Bros.

As Fox executives touted the network's major Emmy Award nominations and its upcoming schedule on Thursday at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, several protesters marched outside, blasting the network's new comedy series "Banzai," which they said is racist and offensive to Asian Americans.